Denise Marie DICKENS, Appellee, v. John Scott HORNER, Upper Chichester Township, and Officer Thomas Bush. Appeal of UPPER CHICHESTER TOWNSHIP and Officer Thomas Bush.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Decided June 17, 1992.
Reargued Oct. 21, 1991.
611 A.2d 693
Argued Dec. 6, 1990.
Thomas S. Myers, Jr., Paoli, for Denise Marie Dickens.
Harold A. Lockwood, Jr., Philadelphia, for John Scott Horner.
Before NIX, C.J., and LARSEN, FLAHERTY, MCDERMOTT, ZAPPALA, PAPADAKOS, and CAPPY, JJ.
OPINION OF THE COURT
PAPADAKOS, Justice.
This is the appeal of Upper Chichester Township and Officer Thomas Bush (Appellants) from the Opinion and Order of the Commonwealth Court affirming the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County which denied the Preliminary Objections of Appellants to a complaint brought against them by Denise Marie Dickens (Appellee).
The complaint alleges that Appellee was seriously injured on April 9, 1986, at 1:24 a.m., when an automobile driven by John Scott Horner (Horner) struck her. Horner was, at the time, fleeing at a high rate of speed from Officer Bush who had initiated a chase to stop Horner who was believed to be driving without a valid driver‘s license and under the influence of drugs.
There is no dispute that once Officer Bush identified Horner and decided to stop him, Horner sped away from the officer at a high rate of speed, ran a clearly marked stop sign, and collided with Appellee. Appellee brought this action against Horner and Officer Bush and the Township and alleges that while Horner was directly responsible for the accident, nevertheless, the decision of the officer to pursue Horner was a proximate cause of the accident.
Officer Bush and the Township filed preliminary objections to the complaint asserting immunity from suit under the
The Commonwealth Court, sitting en banc, affirmed the order of the trial court ruling that the allegations of a decision to initiate a pursuit and in failing to exercise due care in a chase could form the basis for a negligence action against a police officer and his employer Township, and that these acts do not fall within the vehicle liability exception to governmental immunity at
We granted Appellants’ petition for allowance of appeal to review this conclusion in light of our case law concerning claims brought under the provisions of the Tort Claims Act.
That act provides that liability for negligent acts may be imposed if two conditions are satisfied, and if the injury occurs as a result of one of eight acts described at
When considering whether an injury occurs as a result of one of the eight exceptions to the rule of absolute governmental immunity, we have indicated that all the exceptions must be narrowly interpreted given the expressed legislative intent to insulate political subdivisions from tort liability. Walsh v. City of Philadelphia, 526 Pa. 227, 585 A.2d 445 (1991); Love v. City of Philadelphia, 518 Pa. 370, 543 A.2d 531 (1988); Mascaro v. Youth Study Center, 514 Pa. 351, 523 A.2d 1118 (1987). The acts of others are specifically excluded in the general immunity section and may not be imputed to the local agency or its employees and, in Mascaro, we held that the Legislature has clearly precluded the imposition of liability on itself or its local agencies for acts of third parties and that it has not seen fit to waive immunity for these actors or their acts in any of the eight exceptions.
We viewed this conclusion as being consistent with the general rule that the criminal and negligent acts of third parties are superseding causes which absolve the original
These are the general principles of law which are applicable to this case, and which require us to reverse the opinion and order of the Commonwealth Court. In essence, Appellee seeks to impose liability on Officer Bush and the Township for an accident which was caused by the criminal acts of Horner.
It is alleged that Horner was driving without a valid license, under the influence of drugs, and that Horner created the chase by not stopping when he was being pursued by a police officer. Instead, Horner sped through residential streets in the early hours of the morning at 60 miles per hour, ignored a clearly marked stop sign, and rammed into Appellee. We can not impose liability for the crimes of Horner on the Township or Officer Bush any more than we could the City or the Youth Study Center in Mascaro3 because the legislative scheme of immunity consistently excludes all criminal acts from liability, including the acts of one of such as Horner, who choses to defy a lawful order to stop his car and commits a series of crimes which terminate in inflicting serious injuries to an innocent bystander like Appellee. Also see, Chevalier v. City of Philadelphia, 516 Pa. 316, 532 A.2d 411 (1987).4 Nor should we
Accordingly, the Order of the Commonwealth Court is reversed, the Preliminary Objections of Appellants are granted, and the matter is remanded to the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County so that Appellee may continue her case against Horner.
ZAPPALA, J., concurs in the result.
CAPPY, J., joins the majority opinion and also files a concurring opinion.
CAPPY, Justice, concurring.
I join in the opinion of the majority insofar as it establishes that a municipality and its agents cannot be held liable for the superseding criminal or negligent acts of a third party. I endorse the position that the decision of a police officer, acting within the scope of his duties, to initiate vehicular pursuit of a person suspected of committing a crime, cannot constitute negligence.
However, I write separately to emphasize that, in my view, the decision of the majority does not eliminate liability claims against a municipality or its agents in instances where its own actions, as opposed to those of a third party, are the proximate cause of the injury.